Creeping Privatization in Canadian Health Care

Due to funding shortages in Canada Health ten years ago, private clinics started opening and now Canadian for-profit care providers have a customer base and demand that even American health care companies desire to capture.

Across Canada, there are 42 for-profit magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) clinics, 72 private surgical hospitals (excluding cosmetic surgery facilities) and 16 "boutique" physician clinics, the Ontario Health Coalition says in a report, entitled Eroding Public Medicare: Lessons and Consequences for For-Profit Health Care Across Canada, being released today.

According to government health care advocates, for-profit clinics violate the Canada Health Act by giving preferential treatment to those willing to pay and they siphon off specialists and technologists from the socialized system.

The Ontario Health Coalition and the Registered Nurses' Association blame the federal government for turning a blind eye to private clinics and allowing them to proliferate.

Interesting. Presumably, the coalition's report is simply the first volley in an effort to get public and political support for a clampdown on private clinics. However, since political support is nil with both conservatives and liberals unruffled by the issue, the citizenry will need to get angry before law enforcers are sent after for-profit health care facilities.

Over time, though, private clinics will likely grow to the level where a two-tier health care system is generally evident with affluent people receiving premium care and the balance of the population relying on care made available by the government. Then, the public will be interested and the perennial debate on the benefits of socialized medicine versus private health care will, once again, be ignited. I would estimate that the process will take at least a few years but, since it's all political, it could be quicker.

Companion post at SocGlory.